In these tough economic times it's hard enough for many people to take care of themselves and their families, let alone donate to strangers. This is a big part of why TFL tries to support/endorse/spread ideas that are charitable AND cheap. So how about a cause that essentially donates double the money you spend?

Macy's has begun a promotion with my all-time favorite charity, the Make-A-Wish foundation. From now until Christmas Macy's will be hosting mail boxes in all of their stores. All you have to do is bring in your stamped letter to Santa Claus addressed to the North Pole and drop it in their mailbox. Shortly after Christmas, Macy's will count up all the letters they recieve nationwide and, for every letter they receieve, they will donate a dollar to the Make-A-Wish foundation up to One Million Dollars.

Talk about two birds with one stone;
~ Writing letters to santa is a great activity for the old and young alike. Parents: I encourage you to round up the whole family and have everyone write their own letter or maybe just help your toddlers/grade schoolers with their letters. Not only is this a great family building activity but it's an easy tradition to start that you and your kids will remember and cherish for a long long time. Don't have kids? Have a little fun and relive the magic of the season by writing your own letter to santa. Go ahead and ask for that new Rolls Royce... or maybe world peace. It doesn't matter, Macy's will donate a dollar on your behalf all the same. I will add this note if you do decide to write a chivalrous thoughtful letter to santa: It seems not a year goes by that I don't hear about someone's life being changed by a letter to santa that they happened upon and read. Something to keep in mind.
~ Getting too Hallmark there for my readers? Well then let's talk business. Spend .42 cents on a stamp, a few pennies on an envelope and paper, and Macy's will donate a dollar to help grant wishes to terminally ill children. How else can you double your money and your donation so easily?

So it's that simple: Write a letter to santa, stamp it, drop it at a mailbox at any Macy's, and help make wishes come true for children this holiday season.

To learn more please visit.
http://www.macysbelieve.com

That's right kiddies, it's that time again! Coca-Cola has teamed up with Toys-For-Tots to help bring presents to needy children across the U.S. and you can help. For free no less! Here's how.

When you drink any Coca-Cola product (Coke, Dasani, Vault, Power-Ade, Minute maid, etc) there is a code under the cap or on the inside of the box if you're buying 12packs or cases. These codes can be redeemed at www.mycokerewards.com for prizes. However you need to sign up for an account, enter all your personal information, enter your code(s), and then save up for prizes. Frankly, any prize worth redeeming costs hundred of points (Adidas sunglasses 2050 points, Coke T-Shirt 575 points, etc) and very few people drink that much coke products. So the majority of people just throw their caps and codes away.

Do you throw your codes away? Well don't! :) Thanks to the Toys-For-Tots promotion you can put those codes to good use. The codes can be donated to Toys-For-Tots and used to buy toys/prizes for children just as if you had donated a few bucks directly. So if you (like myself) drink an occasional coke product but not enough to warrant opening an account, we ask that you please send the codes to us via a quick email. We'll enter the codes into the TabsForLife account we opened last year and all points raised will be donated to the Toys-For-Tots program.
Last year we donated 200 points and the goal this year is 1000. It's a bit of a steep goal but I'm certain we can reach it. If everyone on this friendslist donates just one code we would be able to donate nearly 10,000 points!

Though this is not our typical endeavor, I really like it for a few reasons.
1) It's so easy and absolutely free. While sending tabs is cheap, sending an email with a code or two that you would have otherwise thrown away doesn't cost a single penny, only a minute of your time.
2) I'm a fan of the Toys-For-Tots program. Some charities and organizations take a HUGE chunk of what is donated to them and use it to cover their "operating costs". They take donated money and pay their executives fat salaries and... ugh, don't get me started. By donating points this way, you can be guaranteed that every single point goes directly to helping needy children.
3) Hey, T'is the season!

So please, before you throw out that bottle, take 30 seconds and email us the code under the cap. Let's help out some needy kids this holiday. Also, again this year, I'll try to keep a running tally of how many points we've all raised for the Toys-For-Tots program. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask me. For more information on the Toys-For-Tots program please visit www.toysfortots.org Thanks in advance for the help and points everyone. Merry Christmas, have safe and happy holidays, and... well... drink Coke! :)

TabsForLife as we know it was formed 7/19/06 with one concept in mind: helping people in need. 20 months, 2 addresses, and thousands (and thousands and thousands) of tabs later we’re still here, doing what we do, with the help of countless friends, strangers, and organizations. Still, I realize that some people new to the site (and even some who have been around for a while) aren’t 100% certain of what it is we do or why, or even who "we" are. So I’ll try to address those issues now. Easiest one first.

Why: TabsForLife was established, as mentioned above, simply to try to help people. There are plenty of people that need help and plenty of people that can give help. TFL was created to try to help those groups connect with each other; Because everyone reading this knows someone who has needed a hand at some time in their life.

How: The main concept was simple (and probably obvious by now), to collect tabs. The tabs are essentially recycled as scrap metal and the money is put towards helping needy cases. However, while we still collect tabs (feverishly) TabsForLife is also trying to help people simply by being a voice for and a participant in as many positive causes as humanly possible. A brief sampling of what’s been done in the name of TFL:
1) Direct representation at charity gatherings and fundraisers. While there money was given in many forms such as direct donation and raffles.
2) Sponsorship tickets: Sponsorship tickets have become very popular in the past five years. It seems that they can be found in all shapes and in all locations. Perhaps some of you don’t know what they are so let me clarify: Sponsorship tickets are often found at the registers of fast food restaurants or grocery stores. They are the little signs that you can buy and sign your name to, after which the money you spend on the ticket goes to the charity/organization selling them. Here is an example of one such sponsorship ticket. Though exact numbers can’t be certain (as I know of at least 5 people who have bought tickets and signed them as "TabsForlife") I would estimate that a hundred tickets have been bought at various dollar ammounts for various charities.
3) Avid participation at www.freerice.com  If you haven’t checked out this site, give it a look. It’s a fun and fast way to help out humanity but I warn you, it’s addicting. I’ve no interest in revealing how big of a grammer nerd I am, but TFL has helped in the donating of six figures worth of rice, if you get my drift. :)
4) Toys-For-Tots: My previous blog was about how mycokerewards.com was allowing people to donate points to the Toy-For-Tots program to help needy kids get gifts for Christmas. We successfully raised (and donated) over 200 points. The promotion has since ended but we are still collecting and saving points for when the program resumes next year.

This is just a small portion of the assorted things done by/in the name of TabsForLife in order to try to help people. Hopefully this gives you the reader an idea of the many different and completly random venues TFL has tried to use to help people. While some of the things above may seem trivial, I am proud to say that every dollar spent in the name of TabsForLife has been 100% out of personal pocket and no money donated to TFL (directly or through tabs) has been spent on these random activities. I don’t want people thinking they were donating to, for example, Maggie May Larry only to find out their money was donated to The American Red Cross instead. Again, not one penny of funds gathered has been used for anything other than what it was originally donated for. Also, unlike almost every charity out there, not one penny donated has been pocketed in the name of "Business expenses" or any other nonsense. Do some research on your charity of choice and see that even the best of them tend to pocket about 10% or so of money donated to pay their expenses.

Who: While a name is relatively unimportant to who someone truly is, the facts about who "we" are sometimes catches people off guard. While founded and chielfy operated by myself, I’ve been helped by countless people in many ways. People (both friends and strangers) have donated tabs, cash, time, ideas, wisdom, or sometimes just kind words. This charity runs mainly on the "pay it forward" principal and, as mentioned above, many people have spent money in the name of TFL. So as to who we are I can only tell you this: I myself am a 24 year old male who works for near minimum wage bagging groceries. Many of our biggest supporters (and donators) work in fast food, go to college, are thousands of dollars in debt, and/or are in other varying degrees of financial need themselves. But that is what I enjoy most about running this charity, it’s really given me a chance to meet some of society’s better people. I read the news and am mildly jealous when I see that some celebrity donates more at a charity dinner than we here at TFL may ever raise. Still, I think it says something about the people who support this charity: that they are often times people with very little money or time to spare, yet they still find it in their hearts to give to others. I don’t do this much, but it reminds me of...
"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." ~ Mark 12:41-44

So I hope that gives everyone a little better of an idea of who and what TabsForLife is. If you’re not subscribed to this blog already now might be a good time to do so as I will be writing again soon to let everyone know what we have planned next. Until them, thanks so much to everyone who has been collecting tabs. Keep them coming, they’re very appreciated.

That's right, and it's super easy. Here's how.

When you drink any Coca-Cola products (Coke, Dasani, Vault, Power-Ade, Minute maid, etc) they come with codes under the cap, or on the inside of the box if you're buying 12packs or cases. The codes may be redeemed at mycokerewards.com for prizes. However you need to sign up for an account, enter all your personal information, enter your code(s), and then save up for prizes. Frankly, any prize worth redeeming costs hundred of points (Adidas sunglasses 2050 points, Coke T-Shirt 575 points, etc) and very few people drink that much coke products. So the majority of people just throw their caps and codes away.

While browsing the site last night I noticed that they are running a new promotion: you can donate points to the toys-for-tots program. The points donated are used to buy toys/prizes for children through the Toys-For-Tots program as if you had donated a few bucks directly.

That all being said: If you, like myself, drink an occasional coke product but not enough to warrant opening an account, we ask that you please send the codes to us via a quick email. We'll enter the codes into an account we have now opened, and all points raised will be donated to the toys-for-tots program. By myself, I can probably donate a few points a month. However, with as many people as TFL is capable of reaching, this could be a quick and cheap way to donate thousands of presents to thousands of needy children.

Though this is not our typical endeavor, I'd decided to give it a shot for a few reasons.
1) It's absolutely free. While sending tabs is cheap, sending an email with a code or two that you would have otherwise thrown away doesn't cost a single penny.
2) I'm a fan of the Toys-For-Tots program. Some charities and organizations take a HUGE chunk of what is donated to them and use it to cover their "operating costs". They take donated money and pay their executives fat salaries and... ugh, don't get me started. By donating points this way, you can be guaranteed that every point goes directly to helping needy children.
3) Hey, T'is the season!

So please, before you toss that soda bottle, take 30 seconds and email us the code under the cap. Let's help out some needy kids this holiday.

P.S. I'll try to keep a running tally of how many points we've all raised for the Toys-For-Tots program.

Points raised through this post: One Hundred Ninty points!!! Thanks so much everyone. This will probably be where we stop pushing, but any points/codes sent this way from here on out will be donated in kind. Thanks again to everyone who chipped in.

After roughly a month of being MIA, TabsForLife is back and better than ever... so I like to think. Biggest news first:

TFL has relocated. The charity has moved as far as possible while still stying in NY; from inches below Canada all the way down to central Long Island. If you'd like to send us tabs, our address here is
Morgan Mosier
PO Box 432
Nesconset, NY 11767

If you have recently sent donations to the old address in Potsdam, never fear, they will still get to us. All mail is being forwarded here, and any mail that falls through the cracks and does make it to the old address is being rerouted by the current apartment's current occupant, a long time friend of mine. So, again, no worries if you've recently sent mail to the old address, we'll still get it.
Also, no, the charity has not changed hands at all. The owner (yours truly) has just moved south.

Secondly, as the headline implies, I will no longer be counting tabs individually. While this may seem slightly disheartening to some, a quick look at our recent pictures will tell you why the hand counting has stopped. If you need some math behind the decision, let me put it to you this way: If you were to flawlessly count tabs 1 tab per second without taking a break it would take roughly 12 hours just to count what we've already accumulated. :) Consider cleaning, bagging, sealing, redeeming, and web-site upkeep, and you can see how time consuming this could be.
So now I am looking for a good reliable scale like what you would find in a grocery store produce section so that I can weigh tabs that way. I will be weighing 100, 1000, and 5000 tabs seperatly so that I can get rough number estimates as to how much tabs actually weigh. Then I will weigh all the tabs together, crunch the numbers, and post approximate total number estimates that way.

Lastly, thank you. All of you. I had no idea what to expect when I started this charity a year and a half ago. What I got:
Hundreds of friendly comments.
Hundreds of personal e-mails.
An average of 375 views per blog posting.
Donations from a few dozen different states.
Site hits from a few dozen different countries.
Thousands upon thousands of donated tabs.
Countless words of support from friends and random strangers who have become friends.

So really, everyone. Thank you.

Yes, I know Maggie May's page is gone and therefore many of you have been left in the dark as to her status. My apologies for that. While I will say what this means for TFL in a later blog, for now, I'll let some pictures do the talking. :)

Just wanted to drop a quick update and let everyone know what has been going on here at TabsForLife, and also share some basic info.

1) We've now set up a paypal account and posted the direct link on the homepage. This is a 100% secure link which allows anyone to donate, either by name or anon, ANY ammount of money, even if it's only pennies. You don't need a paypal account to donate; you can do so through credit card, debit card, bank account, or paypal. ALL FUNDS WILL GO TO MAGGIE MAY LARRY.

2) We have LONG since finished voting over at myrockinprofile.com, yet we continue to have others nominating us and voting for us. We finished officially running in October after we finished in the top ten, however people have been nominating us and voting us in to the top ten every month since. Thank you, thank you, thank you one hundred times over for all the support and dedication everyone. It really helped us gain exposure a lot.

3) We have added a TON of new friends thanks to the above contest, word of mouth, friends spreading the love, www.tonsofadds.com, and a program called friendblaster that makes adding, messaging, and commenting people a LOT easier and faster. (I under-estimated how much work it was going be responding to a few dozen people a day.) That being said, responding to such numbers is definitly the best problem I have ever had. When tons of interest is your biggest problem, you know things are going amazingly well! Again, thank you all so much!

4) If you are looking to mail tabs to us, our address is

TabsForLife C/O Morgan Mosier
PO Box 432
Nesconset, NY 11767

5) We collect ALL metal tabs including (but not limited to) the following list.
Tabs from Soda Cans
Tabs from Beer Cans
Colored tabs from energy drink cans (Red Bull, Monster, etc)
Larger tabs from grocery products (canned vegetables, soup, etc.).

6) We have really expanded what we're up to lately. Thanks to various friends and their support, we are now busy collecting tabs in person, through the mail, and through a contest with Red Bull (Thank you SO much Maggie S). As mentioned before we are taking in monetary donations, we're creating advertising (Many thanks to Tonia for her wonderful creations), and we're branching out on to numerous different websites. We are really growing the page and this charity in numerous ways, so keep an eye out for us and tell all your friends! :)

7) If anyone has ANY questions please feel free to post them here and I'll answer them for all to see. Again, thanks everyone so much for everything.

Today I received a friend request and, for the first time ever, I hit "deny". I thought I would post my explanation why here for all to see, as a reference for anyone who visits this page or blog. For some reason, I thought this may be of some interest to some people. If nothing else, maybe it can serve as a guide for people who would potentially add us to their friends list. Enjoy, and happy holidays everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the interest of raising donations for this cause, I have not ever denied a friend request, until now. I thought I would send you a quick message to let you know why.

While not closed minded to ANY ideas (our friends list includes people of all classes, races, cultures, colors, religions, beliefs, genders, ages, nationalities, and sexual orientations), the TabsForLife foundation does not support any page which gives off an air of racism, intolerance, or hatred for any walk of humanity.
With your "Israel is a Cancer" picture, I feel that you will make other supporters or potential friends of ours feel akward, lower, or generally unwanted. This is an attitude we here at TabsForLife are unwilling to perpetuate in any way.

I feel it only appropriate to point out that your page is NOT being discriminated against for YOUR beliefs. Your views are shared by some people on our friends list (Sean is listed as a friend, I believe MadThumbs may now or at one point shared your ideas, and DBS himself was invited to be a friend of ours but has declined, which is his prerogative) and others with your beliefs are welcomed here, barring blatant and overt messages of discrimination.

We thank you for your interest, and we wish you continued strength in your beliefs, however any person projecting exclusionary ideas will not be accepted on this page.

Sincerely,
Morgan Mosier
TabsForLife

Now, I am the owner/operator of a charity, not a fool. I don't forward chain letters regardless if they are "FIND A MISSING KID" or "THIS GHOST WILL KILL YOU UNLESS YOU _____" or "YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED UNLESS YOU ______"or any of the other nonsense that usually gets passed around. I read them and then I call the phone numbers listed at the bottom or go to www.snopes.com and look them up and I ALWAYS discover that they are, in fact, pointless garbage. Those type of bulletins rip the heart out of GOOD people when they find out that they have been forwarding letters, praying for, and wasting time on some made-up scheme created by a 12 year old with nothing better to do. If you see these letters, for God's sake investigate before you pass them on and spread the lie.

That being said, I am going to do my best to get a chain-letter going, because I know that this one is not bullshit. This is the story of baby Maggie May Larry of Malone New York.

The proof that it's real: Now I, Morgan J. Mosier (and I put my full name out there because my name is my word), know for a fact that this is real because these people are from my hometown area here in New York.  If you wish to visit her site it is located at www.myspace.com/maggiemaylarry . Read through the site, message the page's owner (Maggie's Aunt), and see for yourself. Then please, help this girl along by adding her to your friends list, forwarding this entire message, and maybe even donating a dollar or ten through the SECURE paypal link located on her page. The money will go to help her family pay medical bills.

Furthermore, this site is pushing HARD for tabs to be donated to us right now. We here at TabsForLife would LOVE to get a giant collection of tabs, recycle them, and donate the money raised to Maggie May Larry and her family. So please, do your part any and every way you can to help REAL people with a very real problem.
Add her to your friend's list.
Forward this bulletin (constantly).
Donate a few bucks (skip buying the latest Buck Cherry C.D. and donate to Maggie May: Two birds with one stone)
Save up and mail some tabs to this site.
Leave messages, comments, and general love on her page.

Do your part and let's really make a difference.

Thank you.
~Morgan J. Mosier
    TabsForLife

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is very important.....I personally know Maggie's mother and father and Maggie and her family can use all the help and prayers they can get. Please take the time to read this and help out!!!
~ Mandi Welch (McGibbon)*

This bulletin that is written below was started by my little cousins aunt whom loves her very much and was kind enough to get this going. Maggie May is an incredibly happy baby and has been through more in her fifteen months of life than most of us have been in our entire lives. If everybody could visit her site, become a friend, and repost this bulletin it would really help out. Maybe somebody out there can become the person that saves Maggies life. She has a wonderful set of parents and more loving family than anybody could imagine. So please have a heart and helpout. Thank you to everybody in advance.
~ Jennifer Marshall-Hart

Please visit this website that I started for my neice, Maggie May. She has just been diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy and is waiting for a heart transplant at The Children's Hospital in Boston, Ma. Our family has no clue how long it will take to find a heart transplant and could use an donations. I have set up a Paypal account where you can make a safe donation online to an account just for Maggie. This is NOT a scam. I'm sure we can all spare a $1 to such an innocent child who hasn't had the chance to live her life yet. Please make a donation. www.myspace.com/maggiemaylarry
~ Ashley M. Dear-Sweet

Also please consider donating your organs after you pass away. Your not using them anymore, why not give someone else the chance at life.

Ashley M. Dear Sweet (Aunt)
Jennifer Marshall-Hart (cousin)
Nate Clark (Uncle)
Amanda LePage
Amanda McGibbon-Welch
Morgan Mosier

Question from mucho [FOCUS]:

how much is each tab worth???

Thanks so much for your question. It's hard to calculate an exact monetary value per tab(s). Tabs end up at a recycling center where they are weighed and bought as any scrap metal. When turned in for a charity, often times recycling centers will match their weighted value and therefore double the donation. For example, if the center usually gives 2 dollers per pound of scrap metal, and I bring in 5 pounds of tabs, often times they will give twenty dollars instead of ten so as to help out a good cause.

As far as exact money per tab, I haven't bothered to figure out the exact total because it would most likely be depressingly small (percentages of a penny per tab). Also, every recycling center gives different amounts per pound of metal. They are like every other business in that they try to give a better price to beat out competition. I am currently researching which center gives the best return rate per pound. Regardless, every single cent will eventually be handed directly to people in need.

Thanks again for your interest and question.
~TabsForLife